


Whose World is Perfect

by love_in_the_stars



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Challenge: cap_ironman bingo, In Which Tony is Actually Normal, M/M, Prompt: Utopia, Slightly Unstable!Steve, Well For Him Anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-06
Updated: 2012-05-06
Packaged: 2017-11-04 21:58:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/398615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_in_the_stars/pseuds/love_in_the_stars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve is determined to make the world into a utopia and Tony is the only one who might be able to talk him out of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whose World is Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: None  
> Warnings: Slight mental instability but nothing triggery.  
> Notes: Written for my Cap_Ironman Bingo on the square: Utopia.

“I can do this, Tony!” He sounded so earnest and determined that Tony almost believed him by default because Steve just had that way of inspiring confidence in him that almost no one was immune to and certainly not Tony.  
  
“No, Steve. No, it can’t be done, okay? It can’t. I’ve already done the research on this, it _can’t_ be done.” And it really can’t. Every attempt at doing something like it ended in such spectacular failure that Tony was honestly terrified over what would happen if he couldn't talk Steve down from this.  
  
“You’ve said it yourself, Tony, I’m Captain America! There’s not a lot I can’t do.”  
  
“Yeah, and it’s true but this is just one of those things.” Tony’s had to talk Steve down from a lot of bad ideas before, it’s what happens when a person was frozen in a block of ice for 70 years, they have a tendency to go screwy in head after something like that. It’s not Steve’s fault, more the price of his sacrifice and Tony will never, ever blame him for it or resent him. “Trust me, Steve, not a good idea.”  
  
But Steve was frowning at him, pouting really, blue eyes projecting dejected puppy and Tony had to look away. “I understand what you’re trying to do, okay? I totally get it and any other time I’d tell you to go for it.”  
  
“But?”  
  
“But not on this. I’m sorry Steve but you have to understand, it’s been tried before and _never_ ends well. What you’re trying to make is called a utopia and it’s literally impossible.” Tony paused, “I take that back. It’s possible, it’s just a terrible, terrible idea. Humans can’t survive a utopia, they’d be miserable. Humans like to fight each other and cause problems and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Think about it, Steve. If we don’t have strife then we can’t have happiness since we’d have nothing to compare it to.”  
  
Tony Stark logic was usually strange and backwards and hard to understand for most other people but for some reason Steve responded to it. He hated to think about what that meant for himself, that Steve, Mr. Slightly Unstable, understood him when no one else did. Then again, maybe he wasn’t as bothered as he figured he should be. Lots of people liked to call him a crazy manic and hell, maybe they were right. The more he got to know Steve(and fall for him so hard) the more he wondered. There was nothing he could do with either of those issues though so for now he pushed it aside and met Steve’s eyes.  
  
Steve looked thoughtful now, which was good and bad all at once because it looked to Tony as though he was preparing a counter-argument. Instead, Steve nodded and pressed a hand to his chest, right over the reactor. "Okay. Thank you, Tony."  
  
Tony would say something right now, if he could but the touch had short-circuited his brain and he just sort of nodded instead. Steve wandered off then, the door to the workshop hissing closed behind him and Tony sat down heavily.  
  
"Oh, shit."  
  
\---  
  
After a week of hearing nothing more about it, Tony dared to hope that Steve really had given up on the idea of his perfect world. He really should know better by now.  
  
"I was thinking about what you said."  
  
Anytime Steve started a conversation with him like that, it never ended well. Tony flipped up his faceplate and stared at Steve, regal in his Captain America costume. "Which time?"  
  
Steve just looked at him and Tony shrugged, hiding a wince because the man had gotten far too good at seeing through his patented Stark Bullshit. "What about it?"  
  
“I understood what you meant and I see your point.”  
  
Oh no. There was definitely a ‘but’ to that. “Good, I’m glad.” Tony said, trying to head it off. As usual, Steve continued anyway, not about to be deterred.  
  
“But that’s my whole point. There would be no more happiness, not ever. It would be...just perfect. Everyone would be happy and healthy and together and I want that. I want that for everyone and the Avengers and us and the whole world.”  
  
Tony was so busy worrying and struggling to find stronger points against utopia that he almost missed Steve’s emphasis on ‘the Avengers’ followed by that selective ‘us’. An ‘us’ that regarded him and Steve, who both fit under ‘the Avengers’ category and ‘everyone’. So, Tony latched on that, shifting the armor to face Steve and ignoring the S.H.I.E.L.D agents bustling around them. The Avengers had already busted the bad guy of the day and S.H.I.E.L.D was just on cleaning duty now, nothing to pay attention to. “Us?” He asked, lifting an eyebrow.  
  
Steve nodded, returning his stare seriously. “Us.” He repeated, not giving the clarification Tony was actually asking for. After a moment, Tony decided to let it go and focus on the actual problem here, mainly that Steve was still set on this whole ‘Let’s Turn Earth Into a Perfect World’ thing.  
  
“Okay. I get the happy and healthy thing, I wouldn’t expect anything else of you but I really don’t think this whole utopian dream is going to achieve that. You’re Captain America, Steve. You already beat down bad guys and save humanity, why isn’t that enough for you? Why does all this have to be your responsibility? You’ve sacrificed enough so why don’t we go get a pizza and relax, which is what we deserve.”  
  
Steve sighed but was giving him a look more fond than exasperated or whatever else that Tony was used to seeing on other people’s faces. After a moment of studying him, Steve nodded and Tony let out a breath. "Good, that's...good." He held out one arm in offering and Steve stepped up to him, wrapping his arms around the armor. Tony lifted off and blasted back to the mansion, Steve held against him securely as the genius racked his brain.  
  
Steve had not given up on this idea, he knew that and was quickly running out of ideas on how to dissuade him from it. He would have to come up with something but for now he just wanted to kick back with his best friend and eat some damn pizza, if that was not too much to ask for.  
  
\---  
  
They had three more conversations like those before it all finally came to a head as Steve flat out demanded why Tony was so unwilling to support him.  
  
"This isn't about supporting you, you know I would help you with anything but this is just...” Tony trailed off and threw his hands out in frustration, having run out of words and ways to get through Steve’s thick skull. They were in the kitchen where Steve had cornered him by the coffee machine since Tony had locked himself in the workshop for the last two days to work on armor repairs and hadn’t let anyone in. Considering the swiftness with which Steve had appeared, Tony suspected the super soldier had been lying in wait for him to leave.  
  
“Just what? Crazy?” Steve demanded, brows drawn and defiance in his eyes and Tony winced.  
  
“It’s not crazy.” He said softly, leaning back against the counter and holding the coffee cup in both hands for grounding. “It’s a wonderful sentiment and an admirable desire but flawed. It’s a good dream but that’s all it is. Steve, I’m sorry but I just don’t see how it could ever work.”  
  
“Dreams come true all the time, Tony.”  
  
“Steve.”  
  
“You want me to prove it?” Steve said, straightening up and staring at him even more intently. The focus behind that blue gaze sent a tingle down Tony’s spine and he clutched his cup tighter as Steve took a step toward him. They had been standing close to start with because Steve always seemed to be in Tony’s space, which he never minded because it was _Steve_ but this was too close, even for them.  
  
“Steve.” He said again, a token protest that was barely a ghost of sound as his heart beat a bit harder.  
  
Steve ignored it and pressed close, crowding Tony against the counter and planting his hands at either side of the genius. “Because this is my dream, Tony.” And then Steve was kissing him and it was shocking as much as it wasn’t because somewhere in the back of Tony’s mind he’d seen this coming ages ago. They’d been dancing around each other for years and it was really only a matter of who would get up the nerve to make the first move. He’s not surprised the initiator was Steve, honestly, because Tony would never do this. He was too afraid, afraid of ruining their friendship by being wrong or being right but then ruining their relationship because he was good at that, ruining things. A Tony Stark staple, really.  
  
Steve had no such worries.  
  
He kissed like a soldier, deadly and straight for the win but also like Steve, considerate and lavishing. He kissed Tony like it was the only thing he ever wanted to do again and that was something new, something wonderful. Tony’s never been kissed like that before in his life and God but it was destroying him.  
  
Steve did something awesome with his tongue and Tony melted, the meager resistance he’d held scattering like leaves in the wind. He fumbled blindly to set aside his cup and slid his hands into soft blond hair before opening his legs, welcoming the bulk of Steve between them. The super soldier pushed his advantage, grabbing hold and bodily lifting Tony up and onto the counter, which tore a groan of delight from the genius at being man-handled. It was getting hard to breathe but Tony was loath to part, knowing that once they did he might not get this chance again.  
  
Af if hearing his thoughts, Steve pulled away, quirking a smirk at the whimpered protest before ducking his head and instead setting his mouth to Tony’s neck. Which was good, very good. It meant Steve wasn’t going to back down and just the thought of Steve marking him, leaving proof behind, sent Tony skyward as he clutched and petted at the blond desperately.  
  
“See?” Steve muttered into his neck, licking a long stripe up to his jaw. “This is my dream. You and me. Us. This is what I dream about every night and here we are.”  
  
The instant flush of heat at the realization that Steve had freaking _dreams_ of this, of them, quickly soured. Tony’s spine stiffened from its pleasure hazed slump and he turned his head away. “Yes, okay, you’ve made your point. Perhaps that wasn’t the best comparison I could have come up with.” He saw Steve grinning out the corner of his eye and it hurt. “I mean, it’s not as though I’m exactly hard to catch. I’m pretty easy actually so yeah, not the best example, I admit.”  
  
Steve’s hands grasped his arms and shook him gently. “That’s, Tony, I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t mean just having you, though I dream about that a lot too. I mean _being_ with you. As in a relationship, you and me, together.”  
  
Reluctantly, Tony allowed himself to peek at Steve, meeting those earnest blue eyes. “A relationship. You mean with dates and stuff?” He asked softly, heart trembling with hope and yearning.  
  
“The whole nine yards, Tony. All of it. I want you, all of you, forever. I want you to be mine and only mine and I want you to want me too. I want _us_.”  
  
Us. There was that word again, the one Steve had put such strange emphasis on before and now Tony understood. “Forever?”  
  
Steve nodded, leaning his head in close to brush his lips across Tony’s cheek, intimate. “Once you’re mine you’ll always be mine. I’ll never let go of you.” It wasn’t just a statement, it was a promise and Tony has never heard a promise he wanted to believe in this much before.  
  
“I’ve always been yours, for a long time now.” He said with a voice gone slightly rough from the force of his emotions and Tony felt Steve shiver against him, a possessive growl rumbling in the soldier’s throat.  
  
It was all too much. Promises like this were dangerous and abruptly Tony was reminded of the argument they’d been having just moment ago, before the kiss and Steve’s sudden revelation. No. He didn’t want to believe Steve was playing him but he couldn’t deny the timing was awfully convenient. He wondered if Steve meant to distract him, to dangle this in front of him like bait. Well, he wasn’t going to bite, not totally. He was too weak to resist completely but Tony could at least make himself clear, he had to before things got too far out of control.  
  
“I love you, Steve.” He said, wrapping his arms around the blond and pressing his palms to the muscled back. Tony leaned forward to get as close as possible, felt the breath of shock that punched out of Steve and put his chin on the man’s shoulder, mouth close to his ear. “I love you, so much that it hurts when we’re not together but I can’t do this. I can’t do this with you if you intend to destroy us all.”  
  
They were pressed so close together that he could feel Steve about to protest but Tony was done fighting with logic, it won’t work, not anymore. Instead he dipped his head down into Steve’s neck and spoke, frank and raw in a way that he had long ago promised himself he would never get again. “I love you, I am happy when I’m with you, I trust you more than anyone else. You _are_ my utopia. So tell me, Steve, what makes you happy? Is it making a perfect world for everyone else or can you settle with being my everything? Because you’ve already done the impossible. You’ve cracked open Tony Stark to see everything I am and you’re the only one to like what you found. That is everything _I’ve_ ever dreamed of and you’ve done that. So tell me, please. Am I enough in this or do you really have to change the world?”  
  
There it was, all laid out for Steve to either take or deny. It was up to him now and Tony just closed his eyes, already fearing in his heart that he knew the other’s choice. (Captain America was more than just a codename, wasn’t it?)  
  
Steve’s hand slid slowly up from Tony’s arm and over the back of his neck, up into thick, dark hair to cradle the back of his head. “Tony.” Steve murmured, soft and tight with emotion Tony just couldn’t parse. He felt Steve turn his head and press a kiss to his temple, lingering. Tears were burning behind his closed lids and Tony’s breath hitched, the tenderness of the action telling more than the sound of his name.  
  
Tony Stark was a lot of things but the core of anyone’s world he was not. Never had been, never would be. He was foolish to think otherwise.  
  
“Tony.” Steve said again, just as gently and tugging very lightly on his hair. “Tony, please, look at me?”  
  
Tony shook his head as much as he could but obeyed, pulling himself out of the relative safety of Steve’s neck. Opening his eyes allowed the buildup of tears to fall though, just a few escaping but more then enough. Steve was looking at him, directly in the eyes, just as he always did and he looked as devastated as Tony felt. A thumb brushed the wetness away from his cheeks and Steve put their foreheads together.  
  
“I choose you.” Steve said, voice firm and Tony froze. “You, Tony. Okay? I love you, too. So much more than you realize. If this is what you want, if I can have you I’ll stop.”  
  
Tony didn’t dare answer him, just breathed against his mouth and blinked wet eyes.  
  
“You’re right. We fight for the world as it is, if I’m busy trying to make it perfect I’ll miss having everything with you and I don’t want that. I’ve missed enough in my life as it is, I won’t risk this. Okay?” Steve kissed him very lightly before hovering, waiting.  
  
“Okay.” Tony managed to choke out, his emotions a rising wave that he couldn’t force back. “Steve, Steve.”  
  
The super soldier interrupted his weak mutterings with a heady kiss, surging forward to press himself even closer to Tony, desperate to get his hands on as much of the other as he could. “You’re my everything too.” Steve whispered before getting his teeth on Tony’s neck and biting, relishing in the gasp and groan it elicited.  
  
“So, no more utopia?” Tony asked, just to make sure.  
  
“No. Only for us.”  
  
“Good.” Kissing Steve was addicting and Tony felt he could do it forever but he also wanted more. “Can we go to your room, now?”  
  
Steve growled and nodded as he grabbed onto Tony in strategic places and picked him right up off the counter.  
  
“That is so hot.” Tony muttered and Steve chuckled.  
  
“You like being hauled around?”  
  
“Just by you.” The genius purred in his ear and Steve smirked, squeezing a hand over Tony’s ass.  
  
“As it should be. You’re mine, Tony.”  
  
“I’m not arguing. Now come on, bedroom please.”  
  
Steve nodded, stealing another kiss before heading out of the kitchen. He tilted his head to whisper into Tony’s ear, “I’m gonna make you lose your mind tonight.”  
  
The promise made Tony squirm against him shamelessly and he leaned over to pant in Steve’s ear. “I’m counting on it.” He followed that up with a lick along the rim of the ear and Steve moaned, stepping up the pace.  
  
He finally had Tony, was about to own him completely and the last thing on Steve’s mind now was anything having to do with a perfect world. Everything he needed was right here, in his arms now and that was perfect enough. They both had what they wanted, what they needed and Steve was content with this much because Tony was. And Tony was all that mattered anymore.


End file.
